 | Poems of Charles Warren Stoddard . |  |
64
SOUTH SEA BUBBLES
An August in the highlands
Is a chilly shadow of my lands;
O, for an hour of the fervent heat
That nurses the South Sea Islands!
Is a chilly shadow of my lands;
O, for an hour of the fervent heat
That nurses the South Sea Islands!
Your harvest's a quick comer,
Your Fall a tireless hummer;
The century-plant grows old and dies,
In the prime of a South Sea summer.
Your Fall a tireless hummer;
The century-plant grows old and dies,
In the prime of a South Sea summer.
When smuggling bees hum over
Their honey in the clover,
I think of the honey beds I know,
And storm like a South Sea rover.
Their honey in the clover,
I think of the honey beds I know,
And storm like a South Sea rover.
When the winds begin to mutter,
My heart is in a flutter;
For I dream of foam and a roaring reef,
And a rakish South Sea cutter;
My heart is in a flutter;
For I dream of foam and a roaring reef,
And a rakish South Sea cutter;
In spite of all endeavor,
Her straining low lines sever;
A crash, a wreck, and a watery grave—
Or a South Sea home forever!
Her straining low lines sever;
65
Or a South Sea home forever!
I long for a palm thatch cover,
Where chattering parrots hover;
I hate these dreary fields and folk,
And sigh for a South Sea lover.
Where chattering parrots hover;
I hate these dreary fields and folk,
And sigh for a South Sea lover.
At the glow of sandy reaches,
How all my soul beseeches
One glimpse of the far-off blue, blue wave
That laps on the South Sea beaches!
How all my soul beseeches
One glimpse of the far-off blue, blue wave
That laps on the South Sea beaches!
For my heart is full of trouble,
Of cares on cares that double;
And out of the core of a citron gourd
I blow me a South Sea bubble!
Of cares on cares that double;
And out of the core of a citron gourd
I blow me a South Sea bubble!
| Poems of Charles Warren Stoddard . | |